New members added to NPC
- 1. Hip Hop Congress 6/13* (July newsletter)
- 2. Right 2 Survive 6/13*
- 3. Peaceful Uprising 6/13*
- 4. Occupy Theory 6/13*
- 5. Malcolm X Grassroots Movement* 7/3/13
- 6. Direct Action Welfare Group-DAWG* 7/3/13
- 7. Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples* 7/10/13
- 8. Meikeljohn Human Rights Institute 7/5
- 9. Assembly to end Poverty 7/25
- =*Welcome letter sent.
- PENDING: USA-Canada Alliance of Inhabitants
APPLICATION FOR ASSEMBLY TO END POVERTY 7/25/13
--Section 1: Organization Info-- Organization name: The Assembly to End Poverty Organization addresses: Telephone: 503-860-9880 email: Monibeem@yahoo.com and/or bakerm0060@sbcglobal.net C/O Michigan Welfare Rights Organization 23 E. Adams, 4th Floor, Detroit, MI 48226 No website at this time Organization representatives: Monica Beemer,503-860-9880, monibeem@yahoo.com Marian Kramer, 313-520-3101, bakerm0060@sbcglobal.net
--Section 2: Tell us about your organization-- Organization mission: The Assembly to End Poverty is a nation-wide U.S. organization formed out of the poverty resolution created at the 2010 United States Social Forum (USSF) in Detroit and comprised of leaders from poverty groups across the nation.
The Resolution of the Poverty Summit calls for the creation of a new group to unify us and support the fronts of struggle and resistance in our communities. This new group is being called The Assembly to End Poverty. The core of The Assembly consists of groups working to end poverty, unemployment, environmental degradation, discrimination, and exclusion of groups of people from their just claims to human rights and resources.
We accomplish this through: Political education and leadership development
Collectively building strategies and tactics in the face of the annihilation of the ³safety net² and social contract
Analyzing, proposing and developing systemic solutions to the economic crisis.
Organization constituents: Sisters Of The Road, Michigan Welfare Rights and National Welfare Rights, New Orleans Welfare Rights, Direct Action Welfare Group, Women's Economic Agenda Project, League of Revolutionaries for a New America, Poor People's Economic Agenda Project, Organize! Ohio, US/Canadian Alliance of Inhabitants, are each core/active constituents. Organization activities: Helping to coordinate/organize/support the first US World Courts of Women on Poverty in West, East, Mid-West, South and national.
Coordinating Poverty People's Movement Assemblies across the US Supporting other, regional PMA's (ex. in Appalachia, Pacific NW) Supporting Homeless Bill of Rights movement across the US We have active members supporting the USSF, including members on the ACT, NPC, Resource Dev/Mobilization, Poverty Working Group, Gender Justice and International Working Groups as well as on the WSF planning council.
Organization SF interest: The WSF and USSF political principles support reaching the root causes of poverty. We are already very involved and supportive and want to ensure maximum coordination with, and mutual support of, the USSF process. Organization SF experience: We were formed at the 2010 USSF and many members are and/or have been core USSF organizers. Currently, we have active members supporting the USSF, including members on the ACT, NPC, Resource Dev/Mobilization, Poverty Working Group, Gender Justice and International Working Groups as well as on the WSF planning council. We are also currently supporting the Appalachian and Pacific NW Regional Social Forums, the World Courts of Women on Poverty and other regional, national and international solidarity efforts. Organization SF organizing: The USSF brings together people's movements and struggles to create common strategies against our common, destructive enemy and to build processes that support the people and the planet. This is an important motion for the sustainability of the future. We Assembly to End Poverty works closely with the USSF for these reasons and because the USSF process supports our movement in building cohesion and effectiveness across geographic distance. Organization SF mobilization: We are already very mobilized (see above) but will definitely continue to mobilize our vast networks nationally and internationally to support the Road to USSF III. This is very important. USSF work groups: - Gender Justice Working Group - International Committee - Poverty Working Group - Resource Development Committee Additional Comments: Thank you for all you are doing to create a powerful USSF III!
PENDING APPLICATION MEIKLEJOHN INSTITUTE 7/5/13
--Section 1: Organization Info-- Organization name: Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute Organization addresses: P.O. Box 673 Berkeley, CA 94701-0673 Organization representatives: Walter Riley WalterRiley@rrrandw.com (510)410-6481 Sho'mane Tour'e shomane@mcli.org (510) 848-0599 Facebook: Sho'mane Toure
--Section 2: Tell us about your organization-- Organization mission: Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute is a research and educational institute - a think tank - whose mission is to bring the United States into compliance with existing human rights and peace law, born out of activist movements of the Œ30s and Œ60s. Toward that goal, the Institute provides information and technical assistance to concerned lawyers, activists, legislators, judges, government officials, students, media, and professors on how to use little known existing law for human rights and peace. The Institute also acts as a watchdog for human rights and reports on violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United States government and encourages similar reporting by non-governmental organizations and local governments in an effort to carve new paths for holding the government accountable and challenging human rights violations. MCLI is named for Alexander Meiklejohn, educator and political philosopher, who eloquently championed the First Amendment during the Cold War attacks of the 1950¹s. Founded in 1965, the Institute has grown from the work of its founder, Ann Fagan Ginger, together with a creative staff, dedicated board, interns, volunteers and financially sustaining contributors. MCLI is an independent, nonprofit, tax-exempt California corporation with a diverse board of directors and advisory board from the legal, labor, academic and business communities. MCLI has helped over 400 law students and college interns learn to use human rights law, peace law and the UN Charter in addition to the Bill of Rights. The Institute also provides Continuing Legal Education programs for lawyers and legal workers, publishes books and a quarterly newsletter, maintains a web-page, provides informative presentations on how to use international human rights law, and answers queries from lawyers, historians, and people in need. MCLI pioneered the movement to enforce three international human rights treaties signed and ratified into U.S. law in the early 1990s. The Institute publicizes and promotes the treaty texts, reports on U.S. implementation and violations of the treaties, and cases won using the treaties in U.S. courts. MCLI works with other organizations to convince local governments to begin implementing the treaties by filing reports on successes and failures to the U.N. Committees administering the treaties. In 2007, this work helped make Berkeley, California the first local government in the U.S. to file such reports. MCLI¹s noteworthy archival collections of briefs, transcripts and pleadings of due process, civil liberties, civil rights and international law cases are accessible to the public at UC Berkeley¹s Bancroft Library, University of Michigan¹s Labadie Collection, and San Francisco State University¹s Labor Archive. MCLI¹s funding comes from individual contributions, in-kind donations, fund-raising events, and sales of MCLI publications.
Organization constituents: MCLI has always been part of a multi-generational movement, inspired by elders and youth alike. Our mission to build the leaders of tomorrow¹s movement centers around our tradition of training interns. MCLI now boasts over 400 intern alumni, many of whom now practice law, teach, and/or work for non-governmental organizations domestically and internationally. Two intern alums who worked for MCLI in the late 1970s and still keep in touch with MCLI, Colleen Rohan and Gregor Guy-Smith, first worked in the ad hoc tribunals to try war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and now practice law in the International Criminal Court. Another intern alum who interned in 1996, Lindsley Smith, now impacts law as a state legislator in Arkansas and sits on our Board of Directors. MCLI interns are taught to analyze a broad range of issues using a human rights framework. Says Liz Troutman, one of our 2008 summer interns from the University of North Carolina School of Law: ³During my summer at MCLI, I¹ve had a broad exposure to how international law relates to domestic public policy. I plan to practice immigration law, and I can more clearly see how my exposure to human rights law at MCLI will inform the way I practice law in the future.²
Organization activities: IN THE BEGINNING MEIKLEJOHN CIVIL LIBERTIES LIBRARY (1965-1972)
In its early years, the Meiklejohn Library assisted lawyers to develop legal strategies, against the Vietnam War, including support for conscientious objectors, against racism in jury selection (Charles Garry benefited from this assistance), and on behalf of school integration. Before founding MCLI in 1965, Executive Director Ann Fagan Ginger worked at the National Lawyers Guild as the Editor of the Guild Practitioner. One of only eight women to graduate from the University of Michigan Law School in 1947, she¹d struggled to find a place in the male-dominated field of law, starting as the Administrator for Membership at the NLG and working her way to Editor. In 1959, she argued a case against the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and won. A few years later, she helped Atty. Bertram Edises win a parallel civil liberties case. She worked for the NLG from YEAR to YEAR and she noticed that the NLG wasn¹t taking care of their archives of case materials. Recognizing the importance of the archives as the building blocks of legal strategies for resisting governmental human rights abuses, Ann decided to open a legal library. She asked her mentor Alexander Meiklejohn if she could use his name, inspired by his commitment to the First Amendment in spite of McCarthy-era government suppression. She founded the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Library to make the lessons of the past available to the activists of the future. In the first ten years, the Meiklejohn Library continued collecting archival materials from the NLG and from civil liberties lawyers all over the country. The Library published a serial called the Civil Liberties Docket a unique compilation of legal "briefs," transcripts, and motions in hundreds of civil liberties. Ann Fagan Ginger had been publishing the Docket bi-monthly through the NLG from 1955-1965, and began publishing it through the Library in 1965. She employed interns in collecting the material and published the Docket up until 1995. The goal of the Docket was to demonstrate the connectedness of all activists struggling to uphold civil rights and to document the legal strategies for winning civil liberties cases. The Library was more than a publishing house though, it also trained students through internships and an on-campus office at the New College School of Law in San Francisco. The Library filed amicus briefs in many cases including the Angela Davis case and the Pentagon Papers trials. Ann Fagan Ginger taught classes in Constitutional and Labor Law, acted as counsel in civil liberties cases, and kept an open door for people in need of legal advice. The Library was always full of lawyers looking for strategies for their next case, activists researching their rights, and friends connecting in a safe place. As she says, ³The Civil Rights Movement didn¹t just happen.² It grew from the courage and hard work of organizations like the Meikeljohn Civil Liberties Library, at the grassroots level and in court. Although the name of the Library changed in 1972 to Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute, the goal of uniting activists behind civil liberties and documenting legal strategies for future use remains. Also in 1972, Ann Ginger wrote/edited The Relevant Lawyers, documenting strategic advice from successful lawyers on how to use the law as a tool for social change.
1975-1990 MEIKLEJOHN CIVIL LIBERTIES INSTITUTE
During this period, MCLI continued providing legal assistance and advice to laywers and activists and submitting amicus briefs in cases including University of California v Bakke. Ann Fagan Ginger taught classes in Labor Law, Immigration Law, Sex Discrimination in Law, and more, at New College, University of Santa Clara School of Law, University of California-Hastings College of Law, among others. She continued in her efforts to strengthen and unite activists as other organizations were destroyed by the government, notably the Black Panthers and ANN FILL IN. In 1975, in response to the attacks on progressive organizations, MCLI published the first edition of Human Rights Organizations & Periodicals Directory. The Directory is a biennial serial compiling descriptions and contact information for civil liberties, environmental, and peace groups, along with their publications and their internships. This significant publication strengthened the human rights movement by legitimizing it and helping organizations and individuals connect with one another. The 12th edition was published in 2007 and the Directory is still carried in public and college libraries across the country. For MCLI¹s 15th anniversary in 1980, we put on a symposium called "Are you now or have you ever been ...?" to examine how Truman/ McCarthyism had affected our families, our jobs, our unions, our land, and the law. The event was so successful in bringing people together for healing and inspiration, that MCLI put on a string of symposiums, attended by one and all, several at old Finn Hall, and for each we published a journal: * The KKK, Nazis, Moral Majority and New Right - 1981 * The Right to Earn a Living in the United States - 1982 * Lift Every Voice for Civil Rights - 1983 * Free Speech Movement Anniversary - 1984 * Peace and Twenty 1985
This culminated in the publishing of The Cold War Against Labor, a rich anthology by union organizers and rank-and-file members in many industries describing their struggle against employers and McCarthyites. (2 vols. out of the 1980 "Are You NowŠ" Symposium, 1987.) Since its inception, In 1988, Ginger co-authored The National Lawyers Guild: From Roosevelt Through Reagan with Eugene M. Tobin, documenting the achievements of the organization through this time. In the late 1980¹s, Ann Fagan Ginger began developing a new field of law ³Peace Law.² She taught a class In 1992, MCLI began presenting expert testimony on the new field we pioneered -- peace law. We helped get at least one acquittal in Utah, and one community service sentence (served at Meiklejohn). The Gulf War set us quickly on PeaceNet with the first legal analysis of "Blood, Oil and the Law re U.S. Troops in Saudi Arabia." In 1989, MCLI conducted Peace Law Training Sessions at UC Berkeley and at the American Association for Advancement of Science, Pacific Division in Chico, CA, and presented an MCLI petition on "Peace Law and Colonialism" to the 4th Committee of the General Assembly of U.N. This led to Peace Law Packets, collections of legal material from the Docket collection, on topics ranging from First Amendment Defense-State to Socially-Responsible Cities. MCLI published the Peace Law Almanac in 1991, creating a reference of legal texts for lawyers including the U.N. Charter, the U.S. Constitution, the Nuremberg Principles, the U.S. Army Field Manual, court opinions in U.S. v. Lt. Calley and Spock v. United States, and much more. Also in 1991, MCLI proposed Berkeley City Council Resolution: Responsibilities of the City in View of the War in Iraq, which was adopted. MCLI strives to domestically enforce international law concerning nuclear weapons. Ann Ginger's book, Nuclear Weapons Are Illegal: The Historic Opinion of the World Court and how it will be enforced (Apex Press) has led to numerous think-and-action pieces by MCLI on nuclear weapons issues -- at Lawrence Livermore and Berkeley Laboratories and in use of depleted uranium in Kosovo. During the U.S./NATO bombing of Kosovo and Serbia, MCLI prepared numerous reports on the legal issues and relevant U.N. law and treaties, and participated in countless coalitions and teach-ins. MCLI presented U.N. charter law on public radio stations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, and four stations in California. After the events of September 11th, 2001, MCLI released numerous statements urging the United States to follow its commitments to peace and international law. MCLI also prepared Challenging Human Rights Violations Since 9/11, an award-winning book created by the research of interns and edited by Ann Fagan Ginger, detailing U.S. government violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The book was submitted by MCLI to the U.N. Human Rights Committee in 2006 as a ³shadow² report, supplementing the U.S. report on compliance with ICCPR.
In 1998, MCLI presented ³Building Democracy in the Aftermath of the Cold War: Lessons from the Events & the Survivors,² dedicated to the memory of Bella Abzug. The weekend began with a Reunion of victims and veterans of the Cold War and ended with the presentation of Honorable Discharges from the Cold War and Vietnam War and Registration Papers for the 21st century. Ginger is credited with developing a new field of law, peace law, during professorships at several law schools and universities including UC Berkeley, Hastings Law School, University of San Francisco School of Law, and San Francisco State University.
Anti-racism is a conscious goal of MCLI and is reflected in the content of our work as well as the members of our Board. Vice President Rev. Daniel Buford teaches workshops on undoing racism through Peoples Institute West and brings his expertise to the Development Committee, responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of our work and shaping our strategies. He is currently heading a project to bring government accountability to the ³San Francisco Bay Area Toxic Triangle,² a trio of highly toxic sites located in African-American neighborhoods in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco Counties. The community residents have asked MCLI to provide technical support on strategy building and leadership skills to effectively engage local and federal government in the effort to clean up these sites. The Toxic Triangle is a demonstration project that can be emulated across the country. Towards this end, MCLI will create a template for filing complaints with the Office of Inspector General regarding ³Environmental Racism,² an issue we¹ve reported to the U.N. treaty committees since 1995.
HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTING PROJECT The Human Rights Reporting Project seeks to domestically enforce the three ratified human rights treaties as part of MCLI¹s larger goal of full U.S. compliance with universal human rights standards. The three ratified treaties are: (1) The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), written to make the provisions in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enforceable; (2) The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), which bans the use of torture under any circumstances, including ³a state of war or a threat of war² ; (3) The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which requires nations to ³adopt all necessary measures for speedily eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms and manifestations.² MCLI employs three strategies to enforce the treaties: (1) Help convince all cities, counties, and states in the United States to implement the treaties by filing reports on successes and failures to the U.N. Committees administering the treaties. MCLI partnered with the Berkeley Peace & Justice Commission to convince the City of Berkeley to report. In 2007, Berkeley became the first city in the United States to file reports to the U.N. Committees. This demonstration project is now a model for how to convince local governments to report. We distribute a sample resolution and a detailed treaty-reporting template created with help from the Berkeley Peace & Justice Commission and student interns. (2) File supplemental ³shadow² reports to the U.N. Committees documenting treaty violations left out of the official U.S. Department of State report. The need for supplemental reporting is clear. The U.S. government has determined not to enforce ICCPR, CERD and CAT. They¹ve filed the required reports late and failed to include the most flagrant of violations in their reports. For example, in the 2006 report on compliance with ICCPR, the U.S. did not mention the issues in the Gulf Coast due to the government response to Hurricane Katrina. Because the Committees that review the required reports requested non-governmental organizations to file supplemental reports when necessary, MCLI submitted a supplemental report with details of the violations in the government¹s response to Katrina. We sent two members of our Board of Directors to present to the Committee the content of our supplemental report. The Committee made recommendations for remedying these violations in its concluding observations and called on the U.S. to act immediately. The U.S. Department of State responded by announcing that it was sending more money to the Gulf and would investigate charges of racial discrimination in police shootings on Danziger Bridge following the hurricane. (3) Broaden the domestic civil liberties/civil rights discussion to include human rights. Most U.S. residents, activists, lawyers, legislators, journalists, judges, government officials, professors, and students in the United States aren¹t aware of these powerful tools or how to enforce them. MCLI Board Members and Staff speak on the radio and television, post on the internet, and participate in numerous community coalition meetings and events. MCLI provides advice on using the treaties and publicizes the text of the treaties and reports on implementation.
DEVELOPMENT The MCLI Development Committee consists of members of the Board of Directors and the Project Manager of Development. The Committee refines and evaluates the goals and strategies of MCLI consistent with the core values of longevity, independence, and integrity. Looking to the next 100 years of MCLI the Development Committee seeks to increase the amount of funding from private foundations, and law firms, to support the expansion of our projects and the transition to new leadership upon the retirement of our long-time Executive Director, Ann Fagan Ginger. Towards this end, MCLI now employs a part-time Project Manager of Development to implement fundraising and grant-writing projects and to facilitate the plans for expansion and new leadership.
CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION The MCLI Continuing Legal Education program seeks to help enforce universal standards of human rights domestically and resist government acts that diminish those rights, like the suspension of habeus corpus and severe cuts in government spending on training and assistance programs. Toward that end, the MCLI CLE provides lawyers with three types of new information they can use in their practice: (1) How to win cases in U.S. courts by using the U.N. Charter and ratified U.N. human rights treaties along with provisions in the U.S. Constitution. (2) How lawyers can help their clients and causes by convincing cities to file reports on these issues with the three U.N. committees, or themselves filing such informal reports and making informal presentations to U.N. human rights committees in Geneva and New York. (3) How to file complaints with the appropriate Office of Inspector General which can result in a report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committee chairs on the issue. Today this may have as great an effect as filing a lawsuit on a difficult issue. The materials for the CLE program are kept up-to-date by MCLI law school interns. Lawyers and legal workers who attend the CLE receive a comprehensive list of cases won in U.S. courts using the ratified treaties as well as an extensive appendix of legal texts. The appendix includes the entire text of ICCPR, CERD, and CAT as well as the Nuremberg Principles, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and ten other texts.
Organization SF interest: MCLI wants to simply expand the scope of the US Social Forum in it's relationship to Peace Law and highlighting the need for U.N. shadow reporting for Human Right violations in the United States and abroad. Organization SF experience: The MCLI Development Committee consists of members of the Board of Directors and the Project Manager of Development. The Committee refines and evaluates the goals and strategies of MCLI consistent with the core values of longevity, independence, and integrity. Looking to the next 100 years of MCLI the Development Committee seeks to increase the amount of funding from private foundations, and law firms, to support the expansion of our projects and the transition to new leadership upon the retirement of our long-time Executive Director, Ann Fagan Ginger. Towards this end, MCLI now employs a part-time Project Manager of Development to implement fundraising and grant-writing projects and to facilitate the plans for expansion and new leadership.
Organization SF organizing: We think it is critical, this is why we believe it will be necessary for Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute vision to be incorporated in the larger organizing process for USSF. Organization SF mobilization: well over 1,600
USSF work groups: - Gender Justice Working Group - International Committee - Peoples Movement Assembly - Poverty Working Group Additional Comments:
ACCEPTED APPLICATION FORMS BELOW
APPLICATION RECEIVED 7/3/13—OK’d by ACT
--Section 1: Organization Info-- Organization name: Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples Organization addresses: PO Box 4569 Arcata, CA 95518 contact@7genfund.org 7genfund.org (707) 825-7640 Organization representatives: Tia Oros Peters - Primary Contact Executive DIrector tia@7genfund.org (707) 362-6447 facebook.com/tia.hummingbird
Chris Peters - Secondary Contact President/CEO chris@7genfund.org facebook.com/pohliklah
--Section 2: Tell us about your organization-- Organization mission: The Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples is dedicated to promoting and maintaining the uniqueness of Native peoples and the sovereignty of our distinct Nations. Organization constituents: Our constituents are the Indigenous community projects we serve, foundations who support our work, and allies and individual supporters with an interest in Native Sovereignty and Indigenous Rights. We have over 3150 on our mailing lists. Organization activities: Identify and direct much needed resources to critical frontline initiatives in Indigenous communities. Designed to engender collective problem solving, foster new leaders, and build community skills and holistically promote culturally vibrant, empowered, self-sufficient, and more just communities through:
Mobilizing resources to Indigenous Peoples, communities & nations, through strategic placement of program related support including small grants, technical assistance, organizational and capacity development to build knowledge and skills.
Building collective power and multi-generational leadership by engaging and organizing Indigenous Peoples, communities & nations through focused campaigns, issue advocacy, intergenerational mentoring and peer learning.
Optimizing impact and success by assisting Indigenous Peoples, communities & nations to advance their issues, strategies, perspectives and accomplishments by engaging civil society and the philanthropic arena.
Advancing the wisdom, knowledge, cultures, and practices of Indigenous Peoples, communities & nations that shape and inform the vitality of future generations. Organization SF interest: Amplifying the under-represented voices and unique perspectives of Indigenous Peoples, communities, and nations has always been a priority for our organization. We will bring the issues and voices of Indigenous Peoples to national attention. Organization SF experience: We have not previously participated in the Social Forums, however, our work focused on social, environmental, and cultural justice is deeply engaged regionally, nationally, and internationally. Organization SF organizing: The Social Forum is an important venue for nurturing connections between organizations with similar causes and missions. We would benefit from building bridges with other groups involved in Social and Environmental Justice, Human Rights, and Food Sovereignty. Organization SF mobilization: The Seventh Generation Fund works with Indigenous Peoples throughout the Americas and beyond. We would activate our networks to participate in the US Social Forum with a focus on those who are located in North America. The Seventh Generation Fund's work will be amplified and advanced through our focus on self-determination and sovereignty within social justice arenas linked to the US Social Forum. USSF work groups: - Gender Justice Working Group - International Committee Additional Comments: Sincere thanks for accepting our application. We look forward to hearing back from the organizing body soon.
APPROVED 7/3/13
--Section 1: Organization Info-- Organization name: Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) Organization addresses: P.O. Box 361270 Decatur, GA 30036 Telephone: 678-528-1627 www.mxgm.org
Organization representatives: Kali Akuno kaliakuno@mxgm.org 323.422.6025 https://www.facebook.com/kali.akuno
Taliba Obuya 404.273.0970 https://www.facebook.com/smile.big.laugh.harder taliba@mxgm.org.
--Section 2: Tell us about your organization-- Organization mission: The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement is an organization of New Afrikans or Afro-Descendants in the United States fighting for self-determination and the full realization of human rights. Organization constituents: Afro-Descendants living within the United States. We have over 500 members. Organization activities: Primary activities at present: 1) Social movement building in Jackson, MS, 2) Counter-Genocide work through our Every 28 Hours Campaign, 3) Political Education through initiatives like Black August Hip Hop Resistance activities, and 4) Youth development through New Afrikan Scouts and Camp Pumziko. Organization SF interest: We have engaged the Social Forum consistently since 2003. We see it as a means of building relationships and broad convergence amongst progressive forces in the US and throughout the world. We seek to make sure that the interests of African descendants are part and parcel of the Social Forum process. We are interested in all of the activities and functions of the NPC. Organization SF experience: Several key MXGM members have and are playing critical roles on the NPC through various organizations that have served on the NPC, like US Human Rights Network, Praxis Project, Project South, and the People's Hurricane Relief Fund. As members of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, we have also advised that formation from time to time about various SF and NPC related questions. We have participated in both US Social Forums, and several World Social Forums, including Mumbi, Nairobi, Dakar, WSF Free Palestine, and Tunis. Organization SF organizing: We see the Social Forum as one of the only venues where all the various tendencies and trends within the progressive and revolutionary movements in the US can converge, share experiences, and plan joint campaigns and activities. We see the USSF playing a key role in helping our organization and movement building deeper relationships with progressive forces in the US, particularly emerging forces, and would like to share our experiences in the struggle, particularly over the last 5 years of developing a regional base building strategy in Mississippi that we think is worth examining and sharing amongst broader forces. Organization SF mobilization: We are committing 3 core members to participate on the NPC, and are developing an internal support committee to extend our capacity as an organization to the overall process. USSF work groups: - International Committee - Outreach Working Group - Peoples Movement Assembly - Resource Development Committee - Road to USSF III Committee Additional Comments: We are pushing for the next Social Forum to be in Jackson, MS and hope it will be given its due consideration as an option.
--Section 1: Organization Info-- Organization name: Direct Action Welfare Group (DAWG) Organization addresses: PO Box 20079, Charleston, WV 25701 www.wvdawg.org info@wvdawg.org 3045908050 Organization representatives: Evelyn Dortch evelyn@wvdawg.org Beth Dortch beth@wvdawg.org
--Section 2: Tell us about your organization-- Organization mission: Direct Action Welfare Group (DAWG) is a statewide grassroots organization comprised of current and former public assistance recipients, low wage workers, people living in poverty, and concerned individuals who come together to share information and ideas and to advocate for each other, their neighbors, and themselves. Direct Action Welfare Group¹s vision is the end of poverty in West Virginia. In order to make this vision a reality, we advocate with low-income families for economic justice
Direct Action Welfare Group believesŠ. Poor people of West Virginia can stand together as an organized community to fight against discrimination and the suffering of poverty. No matter how poor you are you have a voice and rights as a human being. Every individual should be treated fairly regardless of race, creed, nationality, income, sexual orientation, religion, gender, age, or educational level. Access to services and assistance is a right and not a benefit Everyone has the right to a good education including post-secondary education, medical, dental, and vision care, a job at a living wage, affordable childcare, decent housing and adequate food and clothing. Every mother should have the option to choose to stay home and care for her children or work.
Organization constituents: We have over 600 members in 54 of the 55 counties in the West Virginia. Our constituents are welfare mothers, single parents, low wage workers,college students,and famiies of all types in poverty in WV Organization activities: Way too many to list :) Member of the Poverty Working Group Planning an Appalachian Regional PMA East Coast World Court of Women Numerous state and national campaigns aimed at changing policy with regard to safety net programs and poverty issues, as well as housing and healthcare issues. We are the only welfare rights group in WV so if it relates to poverty, we are the go to group. Organization SF interest: We see the Social Forum as a huge part of building the movement in the US. The Social Forum provides a safe space for people to come together to dream of a better future and to plan to make that future a reality. We would consider it an honor to actively participate in the planning and implementation of the next USSF. Organization SF experience: We sent a delegation to the Atlanta Social Forum. We sent a delegation to the Detroit Social Forum as well as participated in the Poverty Summit and held a workshop on rural organizing. Organization SF organizing: The Social Forum is the only national convergence that addresses all the issues from the prospective of the people who are impacted by the issues. It provides people a safe space to discuss issues and to learn about other issues that impact them. It provides a space for open dialogue and networking around issues as well as a place to plan actions and larger scale movement building. By participating in the Social Forum members of our organization can see a future and see that there are people all over working on these issues. It lets people know they are not alone in what they face and that through organizing around issues on a national level and building a movement a new US is possible. Organization SF mobilization: We have numerous allies throughout the Appalachian region. We hope to involve at least 100 people from throughout the Appalachian region as well as sending a delegation of at lest 10-20 people from our own organization to the next USSF. USSF work groups: - Outreach Working Group - Poverty Working Group Additional Comments: We are planning an Appalachian Regional PMA and would love to be able to develop from there a USSF Appalachian Working Group. Appalachia is unique unto itself with its own culture and its own issues. We are neither the South nor the North.
--Section 1: Organization Info-- Organization name: Occupy Theory Organization addresses: c/o Pamela Brown 255 18th Street, #206, Brooklyn, NY 11215 occupytheory.org tidalmag.org amin.husain@gmail.com, pambrown15@gmail.com 917-674-8293 (Pam Brown mobile) Organization representatives: NPC Representatives: Amin Husain amin.husain@gmail.com 917-407-1226 https://www.facebook.com/amin.husain.14?fref=ts Pamela Brown pambrown15@gmail.com 917-674-8293 https://www.facebook.com/pambrown15
Other members for announcements: Yates McKee - yatesmckee.cooper@gmail.com Natasha Singh - nats.nats85@gmail.com Rene Gabri - renegabri@gmail.com Nicholas Mirzoeff - nmirzoeff@gmail.com Christopher Brown - christopherhbrown@gmail.com
--Section 2: Tell us about your organization-- Organization mission: There is no radical action without radical thought. Occupy Theory understands that we are engaged in the early stages of an anti-capitalist struggle in the United States and beyond that¹s finally capable of ushering in a non-capitalist way of living. Our immediate role is to facilitate movement and action that can transform existing power structures. Our overarching objective lies in locating power and agency with people so that they can determine their own destinies.
Occupy Theory publishes Tidal Magazine. Tidal offers a space for the emergence and discussion of movement-generated theory and practice. It is a strategic platform that weaves together the voices of on-the-ground organizers with those of long-standing theorists to explore the radical possibilities sparked by the occupations of Tunis¹ Kasbah, Tahrir, Sol, Syntagma, Zuccotti and their aftermaths. Aware that knowledge and time are privileges, Tidal Magazine endeavors to offer challenging ideas in language that¹s accessible, and at reasonable length.
Occupy Theory views theory as a means of analysis that can enable us to collectively better understand our situation. Strategy follows. It is the art of devising or employing plans or stratagems towards the goals defined in the course of action. Action means the search for, and creation of, ruptures in the existing order.
Occupy Theory creates conversations across life experiences in resistance and building, in negation and affirmation. Occupy Theory lives on many platforms from face-to-face assemblies to online columns to printed magazines and books. Occupy Theory carries us forward toward the coming uprisings, while remembering and analyzing those we have already lived. It is a critical commons for these intensified times, a collective voice that respects difference and resists oppression.
Organization constituents: Occupy Theory¹s constituent base is Occupy and its related activists. We understand Occupy as an international network of relationships. Occupy Theory maintains and builds relationships with all aspects of the Occupy movement nationally and internationally. Through a horizontal ethos, we connect the ideas of political and social theorists with the ideas of on the ground organizers in hope of creating and defining the ³cracks² in capitalism. We engage a global audience through our print and online publication, Tidal Magazine. Organization activities: Occupy Theory publishes Tidal Magazine, hosts assemblies, and facilitates political education. Strike Debt and the Rolling Jubilee were the direct product of a series of Occupy Theory assemblies on education and debt. This fall we are launching an educational program toward generating shared understandings and vocabulary across the movement internationally. The program is planning to include educational spaces in Palestine, New York, Soweto and Detroit. The program will also incorporate a network of horizontal learning spaces so that small groups and individuals can participate in their local communities and homes. We are also in the process of developing a ³think tank² toward figuring out how to build a cross movement consensus on race, which we see as a problem for our movement. We also intend to create an assembly space from which new strategies for addressing the crisis in access to higher education and student debt can emerge. It is our intention to host an increasing number of assemblies toward generating new ideas for anti-capitalist organizing over the next year. Organization SF interest: Occupy Theory believes that Occupy¹s participation in the USSF is key to uniting the work of new organizers coming out of the Occupy movement with the work of long standing organizers. We believe that bringing together these energies productively could lead to a major breakthrough in the capitalist crisis. We are interested in working with the NPC toward facilitating the involvement of Occupy energies in a constructive manner. It would be our intention to come to the USSF process with humility, respect and admiration for the enormous causes and sacrifices that the USSF leadership has made toward social and economic justice. Our hope would be to provide an anchor for Occupy participation in the USSF and facilitate a working relationship that generates dynamic energy leading into the 2015 USSF. Organization SF experience: Occupy Theory developed out of the Zuccotti Park occupation and was not an organization during the last US Social Forum. Although many of the people in our working group came to activism as a result of the Occupy movement, one of our members, Rene Gabri, was a part of the last USSF in Detroit. He has already shared numerous insights and will actively participate with USSF organizing activities upon his return from Spain in July. Amin Husain, one of the founders of Occupy Theory, participated with the World Social Forum earlier this year. It is our intention to develop a full understanding of the Social Forum process, and we hope to have important conversations with those with experience organizing the Social Forum so that we can gain increasing clarity. Organization SF organizing: Occupy Theory believes the importance of connecting struggles cannot be underestimated. This is the fundamental principle on which Occupy Theory¹s work is based. We believe that we need to understand and connect struggles and movements in order to end capitalism and usher in a new way of living. Without shared understandings, vocabulary and theory, it is impossible to envision a win against a global social system. The USSF will support Occupy Theory toward connecting many more dots toward generating a critical rupture. Organization SF mobilization: Occupy Theory is well positioned within the Occupy movement to facilitate the involvement of key organizers. Our objective would be to generate broad enthusiasm for the USSF and activities leading up to it. With careful strategizing we feel that we can generate significant numbers of participants. USSF work groups: - Peoples Movement Assembly - Road to USSF III Committee Additional Comments: Although the Occupy movement has a reputation for being predominantly white, Occupy Theory is organically comprised of an extremely diverse group including folks of Palestinian, Indian, Central Asian, African American and Armenian backgrounds.
Organization name: Right 2 Survive Organization addresses: 4635 NE Garfield St. Portland Or 97211 Organization representatives: Ibrahim Mubarak i_top@hotmail.com 5038399992 https://www.facebook.com/ibrahim.b.mubarak
Sophia Kinhnarath kinhnarathsophia@gmail.com 971-409-0275 https://www.facebook.com/sophia.kinhnarath?fref=ts
Organization name: Hip Hop Congress Organization addresses: 701 Lenzen Ave. San Jose, CA 95126 info@hiphopcongress.com www.hiphopcongress.com 408-624-2999 Organization representatives: Shamako Noble-Executive Director shamako@hiphopcongress.com Organization representatives: Shamako Noble-Executive Director shamako@hiphopcongress.com
DLabrie-Deputy Director rdvbiz1@gmail.com 510-798-9610
Dione Johnson-Operations Consultant multimedia206@gmail.com 206-854-1507 Peter Rodriguez-Local representative (New York, St. Paul)